Remember Book Fair Day in elementary school? If you’re anything like the rest of us Lulus, it was your favorite day of the year. You perused shelf after shelf in the Media Center, leafing through the books and marking your favorites on the order form, and if you were very lucky, your parents would send a check the next day to order the books.

Well, book fairs have grown up! The Lulu Book Fairs, like the 2012 Frankfurt International Book Fair, are a great way to showcase your book, providing the opportunity for it to be noticed by book and publishing industry professionals. Like the book fairs of your youth, the books are not available for sale at the actual Fair, but they are there for anyone interested in viewing and sampling new independent titles. The same professionals flipping through your books are also provided a catalog of all of the books in the showcase, along with the information necessary to contact you and purchase the book at a later time.

HURRY, THE DEADLINE TO PURCHASE THIS SERVICE IS AUG. 10 AND THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR REGISTRATION AND A COPY OF YOUR BOOK IS AUG. 15.

The magic questions are, what do you get, and will someone notice your book? Like any publicity service, what we can guarantee is exposure, not direct sales. We guarantee that your book will be included on the Lulu.com shelves at the fair, and that editors, agents, librarians, journalists, and other industry professionals will be in attendance (depending on the type of fair, the types of attendees may be more narrow). Whether they purchase the book depends on a great number of factors. In addition, there are other ways you can use the road trip experience to showcase your book. Having your book at the Frankfurt Book Fair is a great credential to add to you back cover, saying, “Showcased at the Frankfurt Book Fair.”

Think about the most successful authors and the pride they exude for their books; there is an unwavering certainty that inside the book is something they think is worth reading. So often, we hear, “My book could be a best-seller, if only the right people knew about it.” If you have the same feelings for your book, a Book Fair is a great place to start with your book’s marketing campaign.